A Little Town Called Mercy

by Wendy Saunders

  ‘That’s not true,’ she replied, her voice filled with hurt. ‘Is that really what you think?’

  ‘What the hell am I supposed to think Roni?’ he snapped angrily. ‘I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. I thought we were going to build a life together here in Mercy, but first I find out that you only ever saw Mercy as a stepping stone to get to New York and then I find out you haven’t told your family about me, which leads me to conclude you were never serious about me, that I was just a way to pass the time.’

  ‘That’s not true,’ she replied, ‘I’m not using you.’

  ‘Then why didn’t you tell your family about me?’ he shook his head. ‘Is it because I’m not a doctor, or a fancy lawyer, or a professor, like they wanted for you? I’m just a small-town cop, is that why? Are you ashamed of me?’

  ‘NO!’ she breathed in horror, ‘that’s not… that’s isn’t what I think at all. How could you think that?’

  ‘Then why?’ he pressed.

  ‘BECAUSE I’M ASHAMED OF THEM!’ she suddenly shouted. Her cheeks instantly colored with shame, her blue eyes filled with misery.

  Silence filled the apartment, broken only by the sound of their breathing as they both absorbed the implication of her words.

  ‘I’m not ashamed of you,’ she whispered, as her eyes filled with tears and she admitted out loud, for the first time, what she felt. ‘I’m ashamed of them.’

  ‘Roni,’ his eyes softened at her distress and unable to help himself he took a step toward her.

  ‘No,’ she stepped back, ‘you’re right. I lied, and I kept you a secret, and it wasn’t fair to you. I can imagine how that must have looked, but I swear to you I have never ever been ashamed of you or what we have, and I never will. You…us…’ she shook her head again, ‘what we have is the most important thing in my life.’

  ‘Roni,’ he whispered again.

  ‘I didn’t tell them about you because I knew how they’d react,’ she hurried on, trying to get everything out, to make him understand, because the thought of losing him made her feel sick. ‘You saw my mother, you saw how she reacted to you and given your mind reading gift I can only imagine what you heard from her, and for that I’m so sorry. She can be really tactless and judgmental.’

  ‘It’s not up to you to apologize for her,’ he told her.

  ‘She’s just the tip of the iceberg; my whole family are like that. They’re all outspoken, thoughtless, selfish and think they’re better than everyone else. My father is marginally more tolerant than my mother but that’s because his attention span is only as long as the latest deal he’s involved in, or the latest contract he’s going over. He’s careless and self-absorbed; he just doesn’t see me or pay any attention to anything I do. I’ve learned not to take it personally; he at least lets me get on with my life with the minimum amount of interference. My brothers are both spoiled little princes that my mother doted on, consequently they’ve grown up thinking the whole world owes them, and my mother, she’s always wanted me to be something I’m not.’

  ‘Little society princess?’ he guessed.

  ‘There I was, a nerdy little geek with bushy hair, thick rimmed glasses and an overbite you could open bottles with. I was awkward and shy and preferred books to people.’

  ‘I think you’re perfect the way you are,’ Jake replied. ‘I love that you’re a nerd.’

  She stared at him.

  ‘A really hot one,’ he added with a curl of his lip.

  ‘Jake,’ she shook her head, ‘this is a really awful thing to admit and I don’t want you to think less of me for it, but the truth is if I never saw them again, I suppose a part of me might be a little sad, a little regretful, but I’d survive. If I lost you… everything inside me that’s good and bright and vibrant would just die. You make me the best version of myself, you make me light up.’

  ‘Roni,’ he breathed heavily, humbled by the way she saw him, ‘that doesn’t make you a bad person. After years of neglect and condescension it’s not surprising you feel the way you do, but Roni…you aren’t going to lose me,’ he tucked her hair behind her ear. ‘Just be honest with me, that’s all I ask. If you’d have explained it to me, I would have understood.’

  ‘Would you?’ she replied earnestly, ‘because sometimes I don’t think you get how amazing your sister and your parents are. I love them in a way I couldn’t love my own family. For years I thought there was something wrong with me because I couldn’t love them, that most of the time I didn’t even like them. I figured there was just something damaged, something defective about me, but then I met your mom and dad and they just welcomed me with open arms. When your mom hugs me everything inside me aches, and I wish that the child I was could’ve known that love, that tenderness, not the constant disapproval, the constantly being made to feel like I wasn’t good enough.’

  He stepped forward and caught her in his arms before she could back away again, holding her tightly as she crumpled against him, her hands fisting in his shirt.

  ‘I’m so sorry Jake,’ she burst into tears, ‘I’m sorry I hurt you, but I can’t… I can’t lose you…’

  He rocked her gently as she cried, stroking her back and murmuring in her ear. He drew her head back, cupping her jaw with his palm as he traced her chin with his thumb.

  ‘You won’t lose me,’ his eyes burned as they locked on hers. ‘It’s you and me Roni, right till the very end, but we have to be honest with each other about everything.’

  She nodded slowly as he wiped the tears from her cheeks with his thumbs. Leaning in slowly he took her lips and felt her melt against him. He lived for moments like this, when it was just the two of them and the connection between them flared to life. He could feel her heart pounding beneath his palm as he pressed his hand to her chest. He felt the softness of her lips beneath his and the wild and familiar taste of her.

  ‘You have no idea how much I want you naked and underneath me right now,’ he pulled back, breathing heavily as he pressed his forehead to hers.

  ‘Do it,’ she whispered, ‘take me to bed.’

  He groaned and stepped back.

  ‘As tempting as that is I really do need a shower.’

  She laughed softly and wiped the remaining tears from her eyes.

  ‘There’s time for us,’ he pressed his lips to hers again in a soft peck.

  ‘Go,’ she pushed him away, ‘go take your shower. I’ll make you a coffee.’

  She watched as he disappeared into the bathroom, then stepping carefully over the piles of belongings on the floor she headed into the kitchen to refill the coffee machine. She was absently watching the dark liquid drip steadily into the pot when she heard her phone begin to vibrate against the kitchen counter. Picking it up she saw she had received a new email. Opening it up she began to read, her mouth falling open as she backed against the counter and sank slowly to the floor.

  Jake wandered out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a clean pair of jeans which he hadn’t even bothered to fully button. Rubbing his hair dry on a towel he stopped abruptly at the sight of Roni sitting on the kitchen floor, her back pressed against a cabinet as she clutched her phone and stared into space.

  ‘Roni?’ he tossed the towel and hunkered down next to her, touching her shoulder to get her attention. ‘Roni what is it?’

  She blinked and looked up at him.

  ‘There’s something I need to tell you,’ she whispered, her eyes glassy with shock.

  ‘Come on baby,’ he grasped her gently and pulled her to her feet. Leading her into the lounge he tried to step over the small mountains of random items. ‘What is all this?’

  ‘Renata’s personal belongings,’ Roni answered numbly.

  Jake eased her down onto the couch.

  ‘Renata’s?’ his brow creased in confusion.

  ‘I had them all brought out of storage.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘You’d better sit down,’ she told him, �
��a lot has happened in the last forty-eight hours and I need to catch you up.’

  ‘Okay,’ he dropped down next to her.

  ‘My mother wasn’t here for a social visit.’

  ‘Yeah,’ he muttered, ‘I pretty much gathered that. What did she want?’

  ‘You remember last month when I said I was going to start looking into my family history?’

  He nodded.

  ‘Well I sent a couple of emails out before we left for the island. One was to my friend Kay who works for the Boston office of vital records, asking her to see if she could track down my grandmother’s birth certificate. The other was to my mother telling her I was tracing the family tree and to see if there was any information she had that would get me started.’

  ‘Okay?’ Jake replied, ‘so did she?’

  ‘No, in fact it was the complete opposite, she flat out forbade me to pursue this.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘She said there were no records past my grandmother, that they’d been destroyed and then she told me to drop it. I was so surprised, I couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t want to know about her family, unless she already knew something, so I called my dad. He was barely able to hold a conversation with me. As usual his attention was firmly fixed somewhere else. That is, until I mentioned mom and looking into her family. He said almost exactly the same thing as my mother. He told me to drop it and respect her wishes.’

  ‘He knows something,’ Jake mused.

  ‘I think they both do,’ Roni nodded, ‘something they don’t want me to find out. I spoke to Kay and while we’ve been away she managed to find not only a copy of my grandmother’s birth certificate but a copy of her adoption file.’

  ‘Your grandmother was adopted?’

  ‘Her mother was killed in an accident when she was only a baby,’ Roni nodded. ‘As the father was listed as unknown on the birth certificate, and she had no other known family, my grandmother was made a ward of the state, but there was talk amongst some of the people that knew her, and it was documented in the file.’

  ‘What talk?’

  ‘That Grams’ mom was not American, she was German.’

  ‘German?’ Jake’s eyes widened as he glanced around the room at all of Renata’s possessions, ‘so what’s the connection to Renata?’

  ‘There isn’t one,’ Roni shook her head, ‘or at least I don’t think there’s one. It was just that Kay told me she’d passed all the details to her friend Erna in Germany, to see if she could trace the mother, and there was some possibility of a German born half-sister to my grandmother. I think the whole German connection just kept making me think of Renata and then I remembered what Calypso said to me, that it wasn’t a coincidence, me coming to Mercy. I’ve never really understood why Renata left me everything when she hardly knew me.’

  ‘She liked you,’ he replied, ‘and she didn’t have anyone else.’

  ‘I thought so too at first,’ Roni nodded, ‘but today I spoke with her lawyer and he told me she changed her will in December, nearly two months before she even met me.’

  ‘Are you sure?’ Jake frowned.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘That is weird,’ he agreed, ‘why would she do that?’

  ‘That’s what I’m trying to figure out,’ Roni glanced down at the mess on the floor. ‘I thought that by going through her things I might find some sort of clue.’

  ‘And did you?’

  ‘No,’ she shook her head. ‘So far the only weird thing I’ve been able to find was a standing appointment she kept every single Friday.’

  ‘What appointment?’

  ‘That’s just it,’ she replied in confusion, ‘I don’t know. She always took Friday afternoons off and I never thought anything of it, but in her diary every single Friday afternoon is blocked out with the initial ‘D’.’

  ‘D?’ Jake mused.

  ‘I was going to continue going through her things when…’ she paused.

  ‘When?’ he prompted her, sensing her reluctance.

  ‘When I received this,’ she brought up the email and handed him her phone. ‘It’s from Erna, Kay’s friend in Germany.’

  Dear Fraulein Mason,

  I have been researching your possible family connection to German citizens as per request and I am much pleased to tell you that I have found the persons of whom you are seeking. However, I must caution that you may not be pleased with the information I have uncovered.

  Your Great Grandmother was indeed German her name was Hilma Bauer and she was born in the town of Köpenick, situated in South-East of Berlin. She gave birth to an illegitimate daughter whom she named Adelaide and who was placed in an orphanage. It was at that time, you understand, not acceptable to be an unmarried mother.

  Hilma gave birth to Adelaide on 20th February 1920 and then left the country sometime after. Adelaide grew up in Berlin, in a convent school. She was never adopted. At 18 Adelaide met and married Hans Franke a noted professor of Theology at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, today it is known as the Humboldt Universität of Berlin.

  After this is where I am sorry to report that both Hans and Adelaide seem to have become active members of the Nazi party. Hans was apparently much sought after for his work at the Universität, although I am still trying to find reference to what that work was, but Adelaide was intimately involved with it and she is listed as having visited Auschwitz several times to see Josef Mengele. I assume I do not need to explain who he is.

  There is very little information on Hans other than to say he was shot and killed sometime toward the end of 1944. It is around this time Adelaide also disappears from the records. We have been unable to trace her, but I must inform you that her name is still on an active arrest warrant for Nazi war crimes.

  I am truly sorry that I could not bring you more comforting news, but I must ask that if you do uncover any information on Adelaide Franke that you forward it to the German authorities. There is very little chance she is still alive but at the very least we can close her file.

  Many thanks,

  Erna Schulz

  Jake finished reading and looked up at Roni.

  ‘Now I know why my parents didn’t want me to know,’ she replied quietly, ‘because my great aunt was not only a Nazi, but it seems that she knew the butcher of Auschwitz himself.’

  6.

  Roni was forced to admit the past several days had been wearing. After her mother had showed up unexpectedly and then she found out about her grandmother’s German half-sister, something she still hadn’t admitted to her mother that she knew, she’d hoped things would settle down and they had to a certain extent.

  Things were better between her and Jake, it almost felt like they were back to their old selves again. They’d also eventually gone out to dinner with her mother, who showed no signs of leaving. It was a hideous experience; the meal had been fine but the atmosphere at the table had been stilted and filled with long awkward silences, during which Cynthia would alternate between disapproving looks at Jake and suspicious glances at her daughter. Certainly, it was nothing like the easy laughter filled Sunday dinners at Jake’s parents.

  Roni still hadn’t discovered why Renata had chosen her. It seemed so odd, but now that the sweet little old curator had passed away there was really no way to find the answer, no one she could ask. She was beginning to resign herself to the fact that she might never discover the truth.

  At a dead-end Roni had simply thrown herself back into work, catching up at the museum and making sure everything was in order for the festival. That was now only a week and a half away and she was starting to get nervous.

  The phone rang, and she answered it absently.

  ‘Good Morning, Mercy Museum, how can I help you?’

  ‘Could I speak with…’ there was a faint rustle of papers at the other end of the line, ‘Veronica Mason?’

  ‘Speaking,’ she confirmed.

  ‘Oh, hello Miss Mason,’
the pleasant female voice greeted. ‘My name is Ella Vaughan, I work at Rowan Oaks care home.’

  ‘Miss Vaughan,’ Roni acknowledged her, ‘what can I do for you?’

  ‘We have you listed as the next of kin for one of our residents.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Roni frowned in confusion.

  ‘We have you listed as a point of contact and the next of kin for one of our residents,’ she repeated.

  ‘Who would that be?’

  ‘Della Kane,’ she replied.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Roni answered, ‘I’m afraid you must have me confused with someone else. I don’t know anyone named Della Kane and I’ve never been to Rowan Oaks.’

  ‘No, it’s definitely you,’ Ella replied, and Roni could almost hear the frown in her voice. ‘Miss Mason I’m not really sure what’s going on. Is there any chance you could stop by so that we can resolve this matter? It’s just that Della isn’t doing so well, and we need to put in place her end of life care plan.’

  ‘I’ll come down and see you,’ Roni sighed, glancing down at her watch, ‘but honestly I don’t know what help I’ll be. I really don’t know anyone named Della Kane.’

  ‘Well we appreciate your help.’

  ‘I’ll see you in about half an hour,’ Roni told her as she hung up. Sighing in annoyance she picked up her cell phone and called Jake but only succeeded in getting his messaging service.

  ‘Hey,’ she spoke quickly as she stood and pulled her purse from the drawer, ‘I’m sorry but I can’t meet you for lunch. I’m heading over to Rowan Oaks; it’s a care facility on the other side of town. They need my help with something. I’ll see you later, love you, bye.’

  She left her office and headed down through the museum, calling out to her assistant as she passed by.

  ‘Mitchell, I have to step out for a while.’

  Mitchell climbed down from the exhibit he was adjusting and dusted his hands on his jeans.

  ‘Again,’ he teased, ‘I’ve barely seen you since you got back.’

  ‘I know,’ she laughed. ‘I feel like I haven’t even had a vacation.’